


How to Prevent Organized Crime

by DJClawson



Series: Theodore Nelson's Adventures in Sharing a Workspace [31]
Category: Daredevil (TV), Iron Fist (TV), Luke Cage (TV), The Defenders (Marvel TV)
Genre: Foggy Nelson Is a Good Bro, I mean aside from the Theo part, M/M, Multi, Organized Crime, This is my headcanon to how Luke Cage season 3 should have gone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-12
Updated: 2020-02-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:35:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22681810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DJClawson/pseuds/DJClawson
Summary: After a long day of keeping his mother from ruining his new organization system and keeping his father away from knives, Theo was surprised to see a couple texts from Luke.Hey you want to go out for coffeeWAIT WAIT I MEAN THE DRINKJUST THE DRINK
Relationships: Franklin "Foggy" Nelson/Marci Stahl, Luke Cage/Matt Murdock/Theo Nelson, Matt Murdock/Theo Nelson
Series: Theodore Nelson's Adventures in Sharing a Workspace [31]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1202407
Comments: 16
Kudos: 38





	How to Prevent Organized Crime

**Author's Note:**

> All hail the mighty beta, LachesisMeg. All hail.
> 
> I'm happy to be able to write again! Prompts welcome.

Theo loved his parents, he really did. He definitely wasn’t counting down the days until they returned to Florida after the Christmas vacation visit. He definitely wasn’t eager to leave at the end of the day, rushing through his accounting, or letting his mom handle it the moment she offered. 

After a long day of keeping his mother from ruining his new organization system and keeping his father away from knives, Theo was surprised to see a couple texts from Luke.

**_Hey you want to go out for coffee_ **

**_WAIT WAIT I MEAN THE DRINK_ **

**_JUST THE DRINK_ **

_Uh, sure_ , Theo typed back. He didn’t usually drink coffee at night, but diners were always open, and Luke didn’t seem like much of a drinker. And Matt would be at the office late preparing for trial. _You want to come down here or should I come to you?_

**_Definitely come to you. Need a breather_ ** _._

Theo sent him the address of a diner he knew would be chill at this hour and open all night. He was curious. If Luke needed to take a night off to be away from the madness that must be running a popular nightclub, Theo was happy to oblige.

Luke showed up at the diner right on time, dressed in one of his hoodies instead of the suit he was usually in these days, but he still had that handsome beard. It gave him an air of sophistication; Theo understood why he grew it. 

“My man,” Luke said, and they exchanged a particularly aggressive handshake. “I didn’t even think to ask you if you would bring me a sandwich. Don’t want to take advantage of your access to quality meat.”

“I have an open policy about feeding people who protect my neighborhood or saved me life.”

“I didn’t save your life.”

“And Matt doesn’t tell me where you guys get together or what you do when you meet up, but I’m just going to assume you’re doing something good.”

“Not so much anymore.” Luke shook his head. “Club stuff.”

They both ordered decaf coffees, and Luke got a grilled cheese sandwich. It was hard to screw up grilled cheese, though there were certainly places capable of it. 

“How are you feeling?” Luke asked between bites. They hadn’t seen each other since Theo dropped off Sadie before he left for India. 

“Good. My lung is healed and my arm - well, it’s as good as it’s gonna get, which is good enough. I don’t think I have a future in professional basketball, but I never even tried out for the team in high school, so ...” Theo shrugged. “It gets stiff sometimes. I think it might be tied to humidity. But that’s it.”

“And everything else?”

“Uh, it’s been pretty good, I guess. I go to a meditation class, and Matt went once because he’s a trooper. I think going away for a while and coming back reset people thinking of me as someone who’s injured or depressed. It was like, ‘I guess this is the new Theo. He’s like the old one but he smells like incense.’” 

“You want me to get you some essential oils? They’re powerful and there’s a stand across from the club.”

“Oh no. That stuff is way too strong,” Theo said, to which Luke chuckled. “The stuff I brought home from India - sometimes I use it when I’m meditating in my apartment. It puts me in a different mode. Danny said he could give me a little idol to focus on but that’s way too far for me.”

“He always means well,” Luke said. “What was he like in India?”

“You mean as a monk? It comes naturally to him. When he’s not bored or hungry, he’s really happy. But he doesn’t want to do it full-time.”

“Yeah, he’d have to give up being a billionaire CEO with his name on the buildings.” Luke rolled his eyes. “His identity is tied up in that. No offense, but rich white guy problems, am I right?”

Theo laughed. “He got me out of debt with a catering job and all of his specialty orders, so I can’t complain _too_ much. Oh, also he asked about you, just in case I was in touch with you more than he was. Have you been ghosting him? No offense.”

Luke finished his sandwich and wiped his mouth. “Look, what’s going on at the club - I can’t talk about it, but less everyone knows the better, and the less everyone is around the club, hanging out with me, there’s a good reason for that, too. I told him that, but he’s persistent. I think he thinks I’m a mob boss.”

“You said you’re not.”

“Did you believe me?”

“Honestly? I mean, I don’t know,” Theo said. “People say you are, but you don’t seem the type. You were a cop. Then you were the hero of Harlem. I haven’t spent much time with you, but you don’t seem like a guy who has it in him.”

Luke smiled. “At least someone believes me.”

“And it’s okay that we’re hanging out now?”

“You’re not at the club, and you’re not on anybody’s potential vigilante radar because you’re not a Defender. You’re probably the only person I know outside of Harlem who’s not caught up in something or my lawyer. You’re safe.” Luke sipped his coffee. “I just needed to get away from being Luke Cage, the owner of Harlem’s Paradise, for a few hours.”

“But you like it, right? Running the club? That’s why you’re doing it?”

“Sort of,” Luke said. “I never pictured myself there, even though I worked the bar for a little while when I was between things. But turns out I’m pretty good at it. And it came with a really great apartment. It’s practically a townhouse.” 

“They don’t make places like that anymore. It’s all perfectly square condos with no personality,” Theo said. “Hey, is that fabric lining Sadie’s carrier real fur?”

“Not just real. Real mink.”

“Shit. I’m sorry.”

“I didn’t really try to stop her from doing a thing that cats do. The owner’s deceased, so it wasn’t getting any other use.”

“What, Luke Cage can’t find a girlfriend?” Theo assumed it was a woman’s coat.

“Trying to limit the people around me right now,” Luke admitted. “And the only woman I’ve been serious about since Reva would definitely not want it. She would try to kill me with her glare. And it would probably work.”

“Is this Jessica?”

Luke nodded. “It was - we were compatible. We had both just gotten out of bad situations, and we’re both tough people. She’s strong. I didn’t have to worry about breaking her. She didn’t have to worry about breaking me. It’s not very romantic to put in those terms, but that’s important. When you have these powers - there are downsides. As I’m sure you’re aware.”

Theo looked down. “There are things I want to do with Matt - things I want to _show_ him - but I can’t. He can’t travel. And I’m never sure what he’s really experiencing. I don’t know if I’m doing something wrong.”

“I’m sure you’re not doing anything wrong,” Luke said. “Look, I have it on a significant authority that Murdock doesn’t have much patience for people who irritate him, and he’s been with you a long time now. So whatever you do, however you treat him, he’s fine with it.”

“Thanks.” It was an assurance Theo didn’t know he needed. 

  
  


Matt seemed a little surprised, but not perturbed, by Luke’s sudden visit. “Last time I talked to him, he did seem to be under a lot of pressure. And that was a while ago.”

“Do you know what’s up with him? And be honest.” Theo amended his statement. “Be somewhat honest. I still need the whole plausible deniability thing here.”

Matt paused thoughtfully and said, “I don’t think he’s what people say he is. The only thing I officially know is that Foggy’s been having a lot of meetings with him, the billable hours type. But Luke isn’t my client, so Foggy won’t say a thing. I only know because he comes back smelling of expensive liquor and the fancy cologne Luke’s assistant uses. What’s his name?”

“Sugar.”

Matt nodded. “It’s better if I don’t say anything else.”

“Is Luke going to be okay?”

His boyfriend’s face wrinkled in confusion. “Of course he is. He’s unbreakable.”

  
  


Forty-eight hours barely passed before Deon called out, “Boss!” 

Theo looked up from the ribs he was trying to carve. He kept the gorier stuff in the back room. Customers didn’t want to see him take apart a whole side of beef hanging from a hook. “Yeah?”

“Someone’s here to see you,” Deon said. “She’s police,” he added in an undertone.

Theo removed his gloves and checked his pockets to see if he was carrying, just out of habit. “Thanks for the heads up. Work on the party platter order while I’m out front.” Whatever the officer wanted to talk about, Theo prefered a little privacy.

He came out to the front and stood behind the counter, across from the waiting officer. “Officer.” It took her a moment to recognize her because her hair was different, but his eyes drifted down and found confirmation in the bionic arm mostly hidden by her jacket. “We’ve met, right?”

She showed her badge. “Detective Knight, NYPD. And yes, we met at Harlem’s Paradise.”

“My memory of that night might not be the greatest,” he admitted. “I apologize if I said anything out of line.”

Knight - Theo now remembered that Danny referred to her as Misty - offered a little smile. “You were a bit overeager to inspect my prosthetic, but that was just scientific curiosity. Otherwise, for a man carrying an empty bottle of rum, you were a perfect gentlemen.”

“Oh good.” He didn’t really think it had been otherwise, but it was good to be sure. “So what can I do for you, Detective?”

“I know Luke was down here, talking to you,” she said. “It’s the first time he’s left Harlem in a while. How do you two know each other?”

“Um, is this related to a case? Do I need a lawyer?” And he really didn’t want her finding out how he actually met Luke. 

“Relax. I’m just concerned about him,” she said, and it sounded about half true. He knew she was friends with Danny and Colleen, so that gave her some cred. “So how did you meet?”

“My brother’s his lawyer.”

“That doesn’t really answer the question.”

He decided he could give a good deal of the truth. He didn’t like lying, even though he was experienced at it for situations like this. “Luke used to own a bar down here. The paperwork was in his wife’s name so it’s never come up in the articles people write about his life. I went in and ordered a drink. We talked. And that’s how we met. And I didn’t see him again until ... well, like six months ago. I didn’t even connect the bartender to you know, the celebrity until Foggy showed me a picture of him from when they were at some club together.”

“You know, I met him that way, too,” Misty said. “I was scoping out Harlem’s Paradise, he was bartending there, before anyone knew his name. He didn’t know I was a cop, so he was charming.”

“Yeah, there’s a reason people like him,” Theo said. “So, Officer - sorry, Detective - I’m not really sure what you’re asking.”

“Luke Cage doesn’t leave Harlem without good reason. What did you two talk about?”

He wondered if he had to answer this question. It was clear whatever was up with Luke, Misty wasn’t in on it. She didn’t even have what Matt had. Again, he decided to tell the truth. “He said he needed to get out from under and blow off some steam. So we went for coffee.”

Misty’s eyebrows shot up. “Coffee?”

“Why, is that slang I don’t know about?” he asked. “We went to a diner and had coffee. He had a sandwich. He asked me about my health. I was shot during a robbery a few months ago. Almost died.”

“Oh, you were the guy Luke was on a rampage about?” Misty said. “If anyone in his circle knew anything, he would have gotten it out of them, that was for sure.”

“Really? He did that for me?” he was a little flattered. “He didn’t tell me. Maybe someone did, but my memory from the hospital is fuzzy because of all the drugs. Anyway, they caught the guys, and they’re in prison.”

“Word is Castle and Daredevil made that happen, but the police here are real stingy on the details,” Misty said. “You’ve got friends in high places.”

“He’s the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen and the shop is in Hell’s Kitchen. That’s kind of what he does. And Castle - I’d never met him. And it all happened when I was in ICU with a fever of 104. Some people offered the details but I didn’t want to know them. It’s not - it wasn’t what I would have wanted. I don’t like violence.” 

“You ever met Daredevil?”

“Seen him on rooftops.” Again, not a lie.

Misty looked like she wanted to ask more about that, call him on his evasion, but she got back on course. “So you guys went to a diner and just ... talked?”

“Yeah. About my health, about my trip to India. You know, we shot the shit. That’s all he wanted to do. He didn’t talk about work and I didn’t ask.”

“You’ve heard the rumors about him?”

Theo shrugged. “He’s a good guy. My brother has represented some real scum because that’s what defense attorneys do, but I don’t think Luke is one of them. So I try not to listen.”

Misty looked him over, definitely wondering how she could get more out of him. “Anything about him seem strange to you?”

“No. He was just a guy who needed a break. So he took a break. Maybe because he knew I wasn’t going to hammer him with questions about his business or his private life.” He added, hoping to satisfy her, “Look, to like everyone around him, he’s Luke Cage. The Hero of Harlem. Or the Boss of Harlem. Or the ex-cop turned ex-con turned exonerated ex-con who beats up mobsters and takes so many bullets he must go through clothes like crazy. But beneath all that, he’s just a guy. He’s just a nice person with ordinary needs. I don’t think a lot of people see that. It must be exhausting for him. So he calls me up, he wants to chat about nothing - whatever, I don’t have a busy nightlife. I can make time for him.”

Misty was nodding, probably unconsciously. “Okay.” She handed him her card. “If you think of anything that might have been suspicious, I want you to call me. You’re not ratting out a friend. You’re doing the right thing.”

“Of course, Detective,” he said, and when she left, he let out a deep breath. 

“You a snitch, Boss?” Deon said as he emerged from the back. “‘cuz snitches - “

“ - get stitches, I know. That’s why I don't ask questions. Nothing to snitch about. And I sure hope you’re good at eavesdropping and assembling platters of alternating deli meats at the same time.”

Deon took the hint and left him alone.

  
  


Theo’s life got busy with his parents gone. There was always paperwork to do, and Matt being laid up took up most of his spare time. Even after Matt moved from crutches to some fancy brace Danny’s medical technicians cooked up for him, he was rather explicitly told not to put extraordinary stress - anything more than walking - on his ankle while it was healing or risk a serious break. Foggy and Karen pitched in considerably toward the task of keeping Matt off the streets, which involved a lot of trips to Josie’s.

“Look, I don’t have _high_ standards, but I have standards,” Theo told him. “I don’t like consuming anything in a place where the water isn’t potable. Why hasn’t the health inspector shut that place down?”

“Foggy and I might have had something to do with it,” Matt admitted. 

Theo was at work the next day when he recognized Matt’s ringtone. “Hey.”

“Don’t freak out, but turn on the TV.”

There was actually a mounted set in the cutting room, but it only got the major stations. Theo turned it on and saw a swarm of police cruisers and SWAT vans surrounding the building he recognized as Harlem’s Paradise because of its distinct front, even if the neon wasn’t on while the club was closed. The headline was about a standoff and multiple arrests having been made, though no one was identified.

“Fuck,” Theo said. “What do you know about this?”

“Officially, nothing. But Foggy had this afternoon booked up for a week, and he was antsy this morning.”

“And what do you know, unofficially?”

“Nothing I’ll say over the phone,” Matt said. “But I think Luke is going to be fine. I’ll come by when I’m done with work.”

“Sure. Thanks.” He hung up. “G-ddamn. Deon!”

Deon came in from the front. He was carrying his phone. He wasn’t supposed to be texting when he was working the register, but it was a slow morning, and Theo wasn’t one of those “if you have time to lean, you have time to clean” bosses. 

“Damn,” Deon said after a moment of looking at the screen. “Shots fired? Luke doesn’t use a gun.”

“Yeah, I don’t think it’s him in there that they’re worried about.” Both of their eyes were glued on the action - or non-action, as it were, since it was just helicopter footage of parked cars. “There’s more than one guy with FBI on his jacket. They don’t show up in force unless they have to.”

“Cops still gotta keep a black man down,” Deon said with a resigned tone to his voice. “You call your brother?”

“I’ve been told he’s busy,” Theo said, and now his own phone was going off again. It was Danny.

“I can’t get Luke,” Danny said. “Or Foggy. Matt said not to worry about it, but should I worry about it?”

“Don’t you pay a lawyer for that?”

“I mean if he needs _help_.”

“Have you ever needed to help Luke with the police?” Theo asked. “Look, I may have reason to think that uh, things are not what they seem.”

“He told me to stop coming by the club,” Danny said. “A while back. He wasn’t rude about it. He just said it was bugged and he didn’t want me involved in anything. He even asked me to pull Rand back from a charity he put his name on. I know what people have been saying, but I didn’t really think he would do something illegal. I mean, aside from beating people up and that one time we allegedly blew up a building. It was my building and I didn’t try to collect insurance so it was fine.”

Theo had some weird friends. He thought he was used to it by now, but he never truly was. “I don’t think you should worry about it. Foggy’s probably got it under control.”

“If you hear anything, you’ll let me know?”

“Yeah, sure. If I can.”

“Thanks. Crap, Jeri’s calling. Gotta go!”

Fortunately, no one else hit up Theo for information he didn’t have, and his customers didn’t know he had any connection to Luke Cage. The news crawl was all speculation until the SWAT team flushed out the last holdout, some head of a Chinese Triad who wanted to go down fighting but was subdued with tear gas. There were photos of the people who had been arrested, and people slowly identified them as different organized crime bosses. Then there was the footage of Luke being led to a police cruiser in handcuffs, but he was in a nice suit, walking tall and dwarfing the two officers beside him who were visibly terrified of him. He looked tired but calm. He wasn’t trying to hide his face like some of the others.

He also didn’t looked surprised.

Eventually the news moved on except for the local station, and New York One had the worst reporting, so they relied on their respective newsfeeds on their respective phones, but there weren’t a lot of updates. No formal charges were announced, though they said they were still looking for some people and there would be a press conference that night or the next morning concerning the raid, which was confirmed to be the result of a federal investigation into New York City organized crime. 

Matt came by promptly at five, and while he ate dinner, Theo sent Deon home early so they could talk in private. 

“Last time I spoke to Luke in person, he was wearing a wire,” Matt said. “Danny was giving me an earful about how Luke was ghosting him, so I went up - not in the suit. We had a very short conversation where we didn’t say anything, because he knew that I knew he was wired.”

“Luke’s a snitch?”

Matt nodded. “The guy you know as Sugar? I don’t know what his real name is, but I know he’s got a badge hidden in his boot.”

“Then what was up with Detective Knight giving me the third degree?”

“I don’t think she was in on it,” Matt explained as he finished his sandwich. “For a long-term operation, the FBI isn’t obligated to loop in the local PD, especially if they think they might leak something. And Misty’s precinct has had some dirty cops in recent years. She wasn’t one of them, but it doesn’t surprise me that she got excluded along with everyone else.”

“And Luke didn’t tell her.”

“Luke knew not to break his cover. He used to be an undercover officer, like Sugar is, except he worked in narcotics. I’m sure it wasn’t his choice.”

“How long have you known about this?”

“I don’t. I mean, the visit to the club was two months ago, but everything else is just legal conjecture. Whatever arrangement Luke has with the feds, Foggy probably helped him negotiate it. Which has been great for Foggy, in terms of billable hours. He can charge them a lot more than we charge our clients.”

“You charge your clients? Because this is the first I’m hearing about this.”

They were just about out the door when Theo got a text from Foggy.

**_Elf needs food badly. Wizard is about to die_ **.

_Then go to a restaurant. They exist._

**_You’ll get all of the gossip,_ ** Foggy wrote **.**

_Deal. What do you want?_ Theo turned to Matt. “I need to make some sandwiches for Foggy and an unnamed person that I think is Luke.”

Matt shrugged. “I’ve got nowhere to be.”

It took Foggy and Luke - because it was Luke, and they had to come in the side door by Foggy’s insistence - half an hour to get from wherever they were coming from. Foggy looked his usual disheveled self from a long day of yelling at people in his lawyer voice while being stressed, and Luke was in the remains of a very dapper suit. 

“Holy shit!” Theo said. “The cops shot at _you_?”

“Naw,” Luke said, almost proudly. “Some dumb bodyguard to an Italian mob boss decided to try to unleash on a cop, and I got in between. Everybody’s fine. Except for that guy, who got tackled by half the SWAT team.”

“You weren’t supposed to intervene,” Foggy said, but not particularly harshly, after the fact. Since the front was closed up, they retired to the back, where they could work on the store’s current bottle of Jameson. 

“How much did you figure out?” Luke wanted to know.

“Something about the FBI, but that was mostly Matt,” Theo admitted. “I knew you weren’t a mob boss.”

“You’re the only one who believed me!” 

“I would have believed you, but you didn’t ask me,” Matt pointed out. “How long were you an FBI informant?”

Luke needed a moment to think about it. “It was right after I inherited the club, so - over a year. But most of it was low-level negotiations to win trust. And actually running the club, because I had to do that for real. And it was a lot of work!”

“He had barely moved in and the FBI called him in and asked him to help them with a massive sting operation that would take down all of the major crime bosses still operating in New York,” Foggy said. “They sucked him in by appealing to his love of fighting crime.”

“I did use to be an undercover officer,” Luke pointed out.

“And he had the good sense to call me before he made any impulse decisions,” Foggy said. “We agreed to work with them if Luke would be protected during and after the investigation. And I would get paid.”

“‘Cuz I need protection,” Luke said an amused huff.

“You should be in protective custody right now!”

“I’m Luke Cage! What’s gonna happen to me?” Luke had too much confidence but it was from experience. “For everything bad about her, Mariah Dillard and her family kept the drugs out of Harlem. When she gave me the nightclub, I decided to keep that going. And this was the best way to do it. And they already had a guy on me. I didn’t even know Sugar was a fed - that’s how good his cover was. He was supposed to be keeping an eye on the club, but he could tell he should be watching me instead.”

Theo had his mouth on the edge of his glass but he paused. “Wait - did an undercover FBI agent deliver my cat?”

“And cleaned her litter box a couple times when I was out,” Luke said. “He was not a fan, but we couldn’t have anyone snooping around in there. It got intense at the end, building up to the meeting. We’re gonna get them all on RICO charges.” He looked at Matt. “Sorry I had to distance myself from you guys - but I couldn’t get you mixed up in this, even by accident.”

“I understood,” Matt assured him.

“I’m still going to be apologizing to a lot of people. Especially Misty. She doesn’t like to be cut out of things. But that wasn’t my call to make.”

“So what happens now?” Theo asked. “They gonna let you keep the club?”

“We’re not sure,” Foggy said. “That’s more of a long-term question.”

“I need a vacation from running a club. It was fun, but it was stifling. And I definitely should take a break from showing my face in Harlem. Which is why I’m sleeping on my lawyer’s couch in Park Slope tonight.”

“Marci bought that couch, actually. And our assets aren’t joined yet so technically - “

“His very accomodating fiance’s couch, before I find a place out of the city.”

“Speaking of which, we should probably dash,” Foggy said. “Before a tourist walks by the shop with a GoPro and sells the footage online. Thanks for the food.”

“ _Really_ appreciate it,” Luke said as they headed out with their leftovers. “The feds can’t even order a pizza right.”

Theo supposed it was a sign that he was getting old before his time when he was annoyed to get a text when it was only 11:30 at night. Part of it was that he was in the bathtub, finding out that CBD was some bullshit, when he checked his phone.

**_You want to go out for coffee?_ **

It was not his first text from Luke, who had some free time while he was awaiting grand jury testimony. Foggy said he’d be asked to come to court for different trials for years, but the beginning was the most important part. So Luke seemed to text just about everyone who was available, maybe because he didn’t want to be overheard. 

Theo first typed back that no, he was tired, he just wanted to get stoned and wait for Matt to get in, but he deleted that before he sent it and wrote instead, _It’s late for coffee_.

**_Oh wait_ **

**_So this time I don’t mean coffee_ **

“Well, fuck.” Theo looked at Sadie. He did not like the way she camped out on the bathmat when he was in the tub, like she was expecting him to drown at any moment, but he was used to it. “Looks like I’m not up on my lingo. That’s what I get for disabling Bumble.” He dialed Matt’s burner - technically a terrible idea, but surely there were some perks to being Daredevil’s boyfriend, like actually being able to find him? 

Matt picked up, but it took a few rings. “Hey.”

Theo didn’t waste Matt’s precious crime-fighting time. “Do people use getting coffee as a euphemism?”

“Luke does.” Matt sounded amused. “It might take me a while to get back. You can get started without me.”

“Dude he _just_ texted me - “

“You didn’t say you were going to say no,” Matt said, though technically Theo hadn’t said much of anything yet, and G-d, this motherfucker. 

“I’m not starting without you. If it’s even happening. So move it.”

“My place?”

“Yeah your fucking place, my furniture is vintage!” he said, even if it was old he didn’t feel like replacing it. If Matt could afford that apartment, he could afford new furniture. He finally texted Luke back. _Matt’s place? He’s gonna be late_.

**_Yeah you like bourbon?_ **

_If it’s alcoholic, I like it_ , he wrote back. 

Luke gave him an ETA, and Theo scrambled to get dry and dressed and over to Matt’s place, with spare clothes because he was a responsible business owner with a shop to open in the morning and he was trying to calculate how few hours of sleep he _really_ needed for the next day. Man, why did he have a career that involved handling so many sharp objects? 

Luke showed up not terribly later than Theo did, which did not give Theo much time to build up concern that he had misread the situation. And if Luke just wanted to chill in the end, fine. But he probably didn’t. 

“This place looks better,” Luke said. He came bearing some fancy label bourbon that had to have been pilfered from the club long ago. 

“Yeah, I care a little bit more about lighting than he does,” Theo admitted. “He’s been threatening to buy a TV.”

“Why would that be bad?”

Theo shrugged. “I’m barely ever here. And it would be for me. That’s a lot of money.”

Luke took a seat in the armchair. “You see how decked out his kitchen is?” Matt did have some expensive cookware. “I know he’s an orphan who practically works for free, but to have this apartment? And those suits? Matt has money. He doesn’t talk about it, but he does.”

“I don’t ask him about it.” But Theo did suspect. He just didn’t know where it was from and it wasn’t any of his business. He knew that Matt grew up poor, so he wasn’t flashy about it. “I have a thing about going out with guys with money, it’s like - it’s a thing. That I probably should be over.” He got out the good glassware and returned to the living area with two tumblers. 

Luke opened the bottle himself and poured a small amount into each glass. “This is part of the severance from the club that I decided to grant myself before the government seized everything.”

“Thank you,” Theo said as they clinked glasses. “ _Sláinte_.” 

“Cheers.”

Theo laid back on the couch and relaxed a bit. It was really good bourbon. “So do you still own the club? Or the building?”

“Everything’s going to be in limbo while they assemble all of the charges. I'll probably eventually get it back, but - it shouldn’t be me who reopens Harlem’s Paradise if anyone ever does.”

“You mean someone who’s not a snitch?”

“Hey,” Luke said, sounding mock-offended. “ _Federal informant_. But it is a shame. That place had history. If it doesn’t get torn down, it’ll get turned into an overpriced tourist trap and real musicians will have to find somewhere else to play.”

“It was a really nice place,” Theo lamented. “Except for all of the organized crime.”

“My first bar burned down. I like having a place, but I’m starting to think I’m jinxed.” 

Theo chuckled. “I’d offer you a job, but I’m a little paranoid about the family business. I’ve put it in enough trouble with stupid-ass business decisions.”

“Can you believe that the only one of our friends who runs a successful business is Danny Rand?”

Theo nearly spit out his next sip. “Yeah, okay. But that’s because Ward runs it. If he took a day off and left Danny in charge, that place would be a smouldering ruin.” He added, “That was kind of mean.”

“No, it’s true. Danny and I once broke up a drug ring and his solution to the damage we caused was buying the building. Which was on fire at the time. And you know what? It worked. Because he didn’t try to collect insurance.”

“Oh, that was you? Or is it multiple buildings by now?”

“It might be. But one time, it was definitely my thing that turned into his thing and then turned into arson.”

“I’m a weird point in my life where I can say, ‘Yeah, that sounds about right.’” He finished his drink and Luke poured him another finger. “We don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to. We can just talk.”

“You just want to talk?”

“No,” he admitted. “But - I was a little surprised.”

“Yeah, I had to escape my ‘protection’ detail.” Luke rolled his eyes at the word. “I’m heading out of town for a while. I’m not needed until the grand jury testimony and it’d be nice to go somewhere where I don’t need the FBI following me around for my own good. And I haven’t been South for a real visit since I first went to Seagate. Haven’t even been to my mom’s grave. She died when I was inside, and after that I was always on the run in some fashion.”

“Family is important,” Theo said. “We’ll miss you, but I can definitely recommend getting out of the city for a while. Let Danny take you somewhere. His private jet is _amazing_.” He added, “I can’t believe that sentence just came out of my mouth.”

They shared a laugh as Matt came down from the roof, his face still covered and smelling vaguely of rotting garbage. “Don’t ask,” he said to their expressions that he couldn’t see. “I need to shower.” He removed his mask and headed to the bathroom. “I said get started!”

“Dude! Only you are into that!” Theo shouted back. He turned to Luke. “I don’t think he has had enough threeways to know the etiquette.” 

“We can fix that.”

  
  


Theo showed up to work tired, slightly hungover, and limping. “I fell!” he preempted Deon with, probably a little too sharply. “Onto some stuff.” Which was technically true. 

Deon didn’t want to get fired, so he didn’t ask Theo any questions, and handed him the staff bottle of Jameson.

End


End file.
